Phifer launched her company, a telemedicine abortion service called Abortion on Demand, in April. And she wasn’t alone. In the months between July—when the in-person requirement was lifted—and today, at least five other companies across the U.S. started offering abortion pills by mail. Several brick-and-mortar abortion clinics, including one Planned Parenthood affiliate, started offering direct-to-patient abortions, too. (Four Planned Parenthood locations were offering the service before last year through an experimental research study.)
The launch of these companies signaled a sea change in the way Americans can access abortion. Some of them look familiar, with the bright color schemes and slightly mind-numbing technical language of a local health clinic, but others boast the sans serif fonts and twee illustrations of a typical millennial startup. (“Your body. Your health. Your time,” reads the tagline for Choix, which notes that the “x” on the end of its name “allows for more gender neutral language.”) All offer online visits with a licensed provider, same or next-day appointments, and overnight shipping. There are no exam tables, no hospital gowns, no throngs of angry protesters.
Most of the companies require patients to speak with a provider for at least 10 minutes before receiving their prescription. (Choix can offer prescriptions by email because of the more relaxed telehealth laws in California.) But the process is less time-intensive and more automated than going into a clinic or doctor’s office and meeting with a provider. “Everything that doesn't require a human being to gather information is functionally done by a robot,” Phifer said.
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